In life, and in learning anything useful, pain is inevitable. It is the shadow that accompanies new awareness, as well as the stripping away of old and inappropriately held preconceptions of what should be.

Alas, even as omelettes cannot be started without breaking egg shells, as childbirth is not free of pain, and as new knowledge is often accompanied by the agony of realizing how wrong one was before, so is pain inevitable in learning Aikido correctly.

Suffering, however, remains optional, and should be minimized or avoided whenever possible.

Good pain is desirable, if nothing more than to avoid bad pain. Good pain is instructional and serves as vital warning signs. Bad pain means that those warning signs were ignored, by either student, instructor,,,,,, or both.

Maturity, understanding and wisdom, like all beneficial goals of training and experience, come with a price. One may find that it is far better to pay this price willingly, and avoid the greater cost of not doing so. Life is rife with choices, so we must always choose wisely.

Let us not fear pain, or the necessary lessons that accompanies it.

Let us fear the loss of not having the courage and foresight to do so.